It was another Fruit Boot Shootout event, this time The FBSO Pork pie pud slides Melton Mowbray massacre out in the sun, making the most of our Great British Summer ™. As is customary with these events it was first and foremost a session. An excuse to get together and skate. Once the midair collisions were over and the ambulance left with the first (and thankfully only) casualty of the day that’s how it turned out. As Glenn departed with a second head growing from where the first impacted the concrete everyone else, glad to see him walking unaided got back to the matter at hand – finding the lines to be had at this little outdoor park.

It seems that lines were found as you can see above. After a few hours of rolling the smooth curves and banks of this particular location prizes were given for best trick and best overall skater. Both going to Jake Ricketts for his exemplary performance all day.

Probably the last main event of the year in the UK The Food Fight was down in Corby at the redesigned Adrenaline Alley skatepark. Great chance to skate the park, meet up with skaters from all over the country and of course battle for some prizes. As is standard I took the camera and here’s a few shots from what I caught…

Back to Barry again this year for the Richard Taylor Trophy. As always it was a great day with loads of people turning up to skate, chill, meet up, relax and generally enjoy the day. With some competitions and generous prizes thrown in there was something for everyone.

Thanks as always to Gaynor, Rob and all of the locals who put on the event and the sponsors that supported it.

A change to the organisation this year but a familiar feel to what is an established and friendly annual event at The House skatepark. As Noiya were not holding the reins this year it was picked up by Bobby Smith and the local crew of Forged From Steel. A wholly appropriate moniker for such a down to earth skate session and competition. With an impressive $950 in the prize pot and a load of extra goodies shared between the 2 classes and best trick, many turned up for the event but went that extra mile for the prizes.

Next time you hear some incredible claims about how some proprietary bearings are so good, particularly backed by claims about how long they spin for, remember:

– 608 bearings were designed for low radial load, zero axial load, high speed operations. In skates they are expected to do the opposite, so tolerances measured on the ABEC rating are pretty meaningless

– most of the bearings you will see for sale come from one of a very small number of Chinese factories. They will mostly be identical products to their competitors with different branding and packaging.

– there are many factors which affect your speed far more than the bearings you use. For example, the wheels you use (size, profile, hardness, rebound) the frames they are in, the types of spacers used and obviously your own fitness. Bearings don’t even figure as long as they aren’t wrecked

– which brings us to maintenance. Simply cleaning and lubricating your bearings occasionally will extend their life immeasurably. Longer than the wheels, frames or even your skates. Don’t neglect them to the point they no longer turn then fork out for the latest ABEC 11’s.

– and finally, don’t believe people who demonstrate how great their bearings are using the “spin test”. For reference see below

On the back of a few popular events came the first Fruit Boot Shootout and it was another great day out. Held at The Asylum Skatepark in Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire there were visitors from all over the UK and beyond. What I was glad to see was the skaters that turned up just to enjoy the day and the competition was the excuse to come down, not the reason. So many skaters old and new just skating to have fun at an amazing park with so many lines.

Well, as usual I had the camera out so took some shots. I also grabbed a handful of clips and if I put together a few of them into a mini edit I’ll add that below too.

So, I was buzzing the old Time Machine through the vaults of Internet history and I come across some gems of old media. There’s more to come but I couldn’t help but grab as many of the edits as I could from the old UKSkate website, back in early 2003 when it was truly the hub of UK blading. The forums, the edit competitions, the hate; it was all there and now unfortunately lost to the march of time. Well, mostly.

So, if you want to reminisce over 240p footage of unity cess slides and XXXXL joggers at 10 fps, then have a gander, there’s some gems on YouTube now.

Second in the informal series of events organised by David Wing and Stephen Swain. After the success of the first session at Adrenaline Alley, the next venue was chosen to be one of my local parks, Rampworx. Another great attendance from all over the UK as rollerblades outnumbered everyone at the park, even the scooters. Well, I took a few shots and even grabbed a couple of clips from the chilled skating that was in evidence all over the park…